Exploring Technologies – Optional and Supplementary List
There is time for explorations within this course. At any time, you can swap one of the listed ExploreTech Tasks for any other creative tasks that might better fit your learning needs. These are intended to model experimentation and play with digital tools that relate to teaching and learning topics while keeping critical digital literacies in mind.
You are welcome to self-select any of these explorations and code-breaking opportunities with digital technologies based on your individual interests, passions and inquiry. Each of these options can relate to this course or another course you are taking and are open-ended for content or focus. Consider writing a short (2 paragraph) reflection outlining how you applied critical digital literacies to your explorations e.g. what digital tool(s) you used, what you created, and how this creative make connects to teaching and learning with digital technologies. In this way, you will help others learn from your experience and this will help you remember how these tinkerings supported your CDL development.
In order to gain ‘credibility’ and recognition for your exploratory work, you should post this information in the Exploring Ed Tech discussion forum in D2L.
Here are only some suggested options to model proficiency and problem solving. You are welcome to
- Make a meme for any topic in this course; use a gif creating tool or do this in Google Draw (accessed through your Lakehead gmail account)
- Make a ‘gif’ e.g. Giphy for any topic in this course
- Create a word cloud image e.g. WordItOut, WordArt
- Create a comic or animated avatar image to represent you in digital spaces e.g. Bitmoji
- Make a simple infographic (4-5 elements included) – in Canva for Education
- Make a ThingLink image with 4-5 embedded hyperlinks.
- Make an audio recording using your own voice e.g. Zencastr, Stitcher, mobile recording tools
- Make a poster or infographic for any of your courses using an online tool or resource e.g. Canva
- Create a Google Draw: for your inquiry project title screen or for a project for another class.
- Join a social media space and follow 10 educators
- Create a You Tube playlist (accessed using your Lakehead gmail account) of at least 10 videos for your teaching – for this or any other course
- Create a survey with 4-5 simple questions using Google Forms (accessed from your Lakehead gmail account) and send it to 4-5 friends for responses; share a graphic summary of your results
- Make a mind map with 4-5 ideas or concepts e.g. Mindmap App; Mindmeister, Lucidchart EDU
- Make your own digital bulletin board of 4-5 ideas or images e.g. Padlet.
- Create a short 30 second video, which could be a ‘hook’ for your inquiry project, or something of use in another course – explore using simple video production tools such as CLIPS (iOS); Animoto EDU; Adobe Spark for Education
Page updated 2023.11.06
